Flexible working has long been a political football, both in and out of the workplace. Back in June 2014 the UK government changed law so that anyone with more than six months of service with one employer had the right to request flexible hours.Whereas this right was previously reserved for carers and those responsible for childcare, the change meant that everyone had the right for a request to be considered ‘in a reasonable manner’ by employers.
The move was broadly welcomed as a modern way of looking at work, an acceptance that we can work more flexibly thanks to technology. But twelve months on, how much has really changed in practise?New research has shown that, in the UK, under one tenth of job advertisements mention flexible working options.It’s said that an estimated 14.1 million people in Britain want flexibility in terms of working hours or location, which equates to around half of the working population. The new research from Timewise says that of the 3.5 million job adverts analysed, only 6.2 per cent mentioned the ‘F’ word, together with a salary judged enough to live on (£20,000 or more). The research was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a social policy research and development charity.Flexible job opportunities were most common in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, while they were most scarce in London. Timewise concluded from the research that employers are failing to capitalised on changes to the way people work.While the research source is a business that promotes and sells its services closely aligned with flexibility, its tagline being ‘talent through flexibility’, the findings are still worth noting.Is your business doing enough in terms of flexibility? Has it done anything differently in the last twelve months? Do your staff feel nervous about broaching the subject of flexibility? Perhaps you’re happy if they are.Clearly staff don’t want to feel straitjacketed, pigeonholed or trapped in the rigidly fixed hours of their roles. The more open and transparent an environment can be on issues of flexibility, the more happy and productive staff are likely to be, and the better staff retention and attraction.As mentioned in other blog posts here, there can be issues of office culture and generational change, making people realise that it is possible to be equally productive from home can be a hurdle.A major first step is talking about it. Address the issues people are facing, with transport links or childcare, or other care responsibilities. Consider how technology and remote working might help, and how procedures might be altered.
